In 1894 the Brentford
Board of
Guardians purchased a house and its grounds in Mill Plat from Lord
Warkworth in order to build an infirmary for its workhouse. The
site, located to the southeast of the Percy House Schools,
was enlarged by the acquisition of other pieces of land to a total of
40 acres along Mill Plat and Twickenham Road.

The Brentford Union Infirmary was built to the north of Percy House and
incorporated some of the workhouse buildings. The
foundation stone was laid on 21st November 1894 by the Chairman of the
Board, Alderman Benjamin Hardy and the Infirmary was
completed in 1896. It was officially opened by Princess Mary of
Teck on 16th October 1896.

After the remainder of the workhouse was demolished, a new workhouse
was built in 1900 to the southeast of Percy House. It was
named Warkworth
House and opened in 1902. (The original house on the
property was used as an annexe to the workhouse for various purposes.
In 1916 it was certified to accommodate 38 mentally deficient
boys. It later became the School of Nursing, renamed Little Warkworth House.) The
workhouse in the south was separated from the Infirmary in the north by
Union Road.

In 1920 the Infirmary became known as the West Middlesex Hospital.

Following the Local Government Act of 1929, the Boards of Guardians
were abolished and, in 1930, Warkworth House, Percy House and the West
Middlesex Hospital came under the control of the Middlesex County
Council.

In 1930 the West Middlesex Hospital contained about 400 general beds.
It treated mainly acute medical and surgical cases, but
also maternity patients with complications and chronically
ill patients. Warkworth House,
the former workhouse, had become a Public Assistance Institution
(P.A.I.) with
accommodation for 800 inmates, of which 147 beds were reserved for
mentally ill patients and epileptics, and 16 for uncomplicated
maternity cases. On 31st December 1930, some 254 inmates were
healthy and 559 were chronically sick. The Percy House Schools
had been leased to H.M. Office of Works to store military records
until 1922, but were now vacant.

In 1931 the Hospital was renamed the West Middlesex County Hospital.

In 1932 building work for a modern maternity department,
initially started by the Board of Guardians, was finally
completed. The new building contained 30 beds. It was
officially opened by Queen Mary, and named the Queen Mary Maternity
Wing. (In 1935 an upper floor was adapted to provide an
additional 32 beds.)

In 1933 the County Council established a Pathology Laboratory and
appointed a pathologist.

In 1935 the Percy House Schools were acquired from H.M. Office of Works
and the inmates of Warkworth House, both able-bodied and infirm, were
transferred there. Warkworth House then was made part of the
Hospital. On 1st April 1936, the Hospital was removed from the Poor Law and
was appropriated for the reception and treatment of the sick under the
Public Health Acts.

In 1938 the County Council agreed to extend the Hospital by the
addition of a new ward block to contain 566 beds and a new Nurses' Home
for 635 nursing and domestic staff. It was estimated that the new
buildings would cost about £658,000 to build and £72,000 to
equip. The Hospital would then have a bed complement of
1,900. However, before the project could begin, the outbreak of
WW2 intervened.

Earlier in 1939, when war seemed imminent, four wooden huts had been
erected at the south end of the site for emergency use (Wards R1 - 4).
Each hut contained around 33 beds. The County Council had
also built a new block (P Block) on the P.A.I. side to house
down-and-outs, but this also became part of the Hospital when it joined
the Emergency Medical Scheme
(E.M.S.). The Hospital then had 1,562 beds, including 30 E.M.S.
ones. The staff and students of St
George's Hospital, evacuated from Hyde Park, took over the running
of the emergency hospital.

During WW2, in November 1940, the Queen Mary Maternity Wing was
severely damaged by bombs. In 1943 the Ministry of Health
requisitioned the newly built, but vacant, Chiswick Cottage Hospital for use as
a maternity annexe.

In 1947 the Hospital's administrative staff consisted of the Medical
Director, the Matron and the Steward.

An Out-Patients Department had been established in a small converted
ward (Ward G1) but there was little privacy. The Casualty
Department consisted of two rooms (one for men and one for women) on
each side of the north side corridor near D Block. The treatment
rooms measured 30 x 40 feet (9 x 12 metres) in size. Patients
waited in the corridor, which had no doors and was open to the elements.

In 1948 the Hospital joined the NHS, dropping the word 'County' from
its name. It was under the control of the South West Middlesex
Hospital Management Committee, part of the North West Metropolitan
Regional Hospital Board. The Middlesex County Council retained
Percy House for use as 'Part
III' accommodation, that is, for adults who, because of age,
illness or disability, were in need of care and support.

The Hospital had 1,152 beds and 77 maternity cots, but many of the
former workhouse buildings - Blocks O, M, S and T - had not been
intended for sick people. The wards in M Block and S Block were
particularly narrow with little room between the beds. The only
washbasin in each Block for staff to wash their hands was located on a
stand between the wards at the top of the stairs. There were no
lifts and no side wards. Patients were reluctant to be admitted
to these wards because of the stigma of the workhouse.

In 1950 the Hospital had 1,413 beds, including those in the Marrowells
maternity annexe and Chiswick
Maternity Hospital. The medical wards were located on the
south side of the site and the surgical ones on the north.

In 1952 the Hospital had 1,147 beds and 80 maternity cots. A new
building containing an Out-Patients Department and a Casualty
Department had been built and was officially opened by Mr Fred Messer,
C.B.E., J.P., M.P., the Chairman of the North West Metropolitan
Regional Hospital Board. The building also contained a new fully
equipped X-ray Department with six major units. However, because
the clinicians and staff concerned had not been consulted, the
Out-Patients Department was severely deficient, and changes and
additions had to be made every 2 to 3 years to improve efficiency.

Two new operating theatres had been opened in converted wards, bringing
the total number of theatres up to six.

Although the Hospital was one of the largest in the country, with 1,254
beds, it was much in need of modernisation and improvement. Its
collection of buildings stretched for a mile from one end of the site
to the other.

In 1954 the King's Fund granted the Hospital £12,000 for the
modernisation of one floor of wards for the chronic sick. The
wards were too narrow and unsuitable for modern geriatric care.
The general arrangement of the wards was altered and the sanitary
annexes improved, with much needed day accommodation added.

In 1956 the Hospital had 1,142 beds.

Early in 1960 the bomb-damaged Queen Mary Maternity Wing was closed for
repair and renovation and the patients were transferred to H1, H2 and
G2 Wards (normally used for gynaecological patients). The cost of the
repair work was
£40,000. Admissions
began again on 10th June 1960 and the Wing was officially reopened by
the Duchess of Gloucester. The Obstetric and Gynaecology Department
then had 98 beds.

In 1960 the Hospital had 1,066 beds, of which 964 were staffed, as well
as the 55 beds at the Chiswick Maternity Hospital. The nationwide
shortage of nurses at the end of the 1950s had resulted in several
wards having to be
closed. The introduction of the 88-hour working fortnight for nurses in
January 1961 exacerbated the problem, causing more ward closures.
However, the Regional Hospital Board had built two new nurses'
hostels - Leslie House and Jeffrey House - and a new School of Nursing
had opened in Little Warkworth House.

The Medical Department consisted of 189 beds in the old
workhouse buildings and the wooden huts. The Surgical Department
had 153 beds, while the Orthopaedic and Trauma Unit had 51 beds, and 10
at Clayponds Hospital.

The Children's Department had 76 beds and cots in two separate units,
including Special Care cots in the Chiswick Maternity Hospital.
However, because of the nursing shortage, one ward was closed.

Other departments included Dermatology (10 beds), a Geriatric Unit (143
beds), a Physical Medicine and Rheumatology Unit (6 beds - the central
wing of P Block was converted into a gymnasium), Plastic and
Maxillofacial Surgery (16 beds), Dental surgery (7 beds), a Chest
Unit (64 beds - more than half the patients had tuberculosis), ENT
(22 beds - 16 for adults and 6 for children) and the Regional
Ophthalmic Unit, which had 14 beds at the South
Middlesex Hospital and received patients referred from the King
Edward Memorial Hospital in Ealing, Ashford Hospital
and Hounslow
Hospital.

The Psychiatric Department had 77 beds. A new block with 20 beds
was built to create a 'therapeutic community' for those with milder
disorders. The first floor contained dormitories for male
patients, while female patients were accommodated on the second floor.
On the ground floor were the treatment rooms and a Day Room.
Patients were treated with psychotherapy, chemotherapy,
electroplexy (ECT), occupational therapy and various group methods.

In January 1961 a Psychiatric Day Hospital opened with 15 places as a
joint undertaking with Springfield Hospital.
Patients received treatment during weekdays, returning home in
the evenings and for the weekends.

By 1962 the Ministry of Health's policy of financial stringency
resulted in the maintenance of the buildings being severely curtailed.
New equipment became difficult or impossible to obtain, while
staff were cut in many departments. In 1961 the Hospital had
1,057 beds, of which 840 were staffed. By the following year
there were 1,010 beds, of which 867 were open.

In 1962 the geriatricians at the Hospital took over responsibility
for the geriatric beds at Clayponds
Hospital from the King Edward Memorial Hospital. A
Therapeutic Day Hospital with 20 places was established in M1 Ward.

The north side corridors, previously open bridges between the wards,
were enclosed. A new Port-Mortem Room was built. A Medical
Lecture Theatre was also built after £6,000 had been
collected from local industries and businesses by the Vice-Chairman of
the Hospital Management Committee, Mr A. Sainsbury-Hicks. Work
had begun on this on 14th March 1962 and it was officially opened by Mr
Sainsbury-Hicks on 26th November 1962. The
building contained an entrance lobby/cloakroom, a projection room
and equipment store, an auditorium with 118 seats, a patients' anteroom
and a WC.

In 1965 the Hospital had 990 beds. The pharmacy in the
Out-Patients Department closed in March due to lack of staff. In
October 1965 operating theatre activities were curtailed because of a
shortage of staff.

A plan was made for the redevelopment of the Hospital, but only the
first stage - a Medical Department and a new boiler house - was ever
built.

The chapel and the old hutted wards were demolished to create a site
for the new building, and the tennis courts were moved. A new
road built through the main car park.

The Medical Department opened on 12th October 1967. It had 240
beds for all medical and paediatric cases and a purpose-built endoscopy
suite. The building was air-conditioned and sound-proofed against
aircraft noise from Heathrow Airport, some 5 miles away (the Hospital
was directly under the landing flight path).

In 1974, following a major reorganisation of the NHS, the Hospital came
under the control of the Hounslow District Health Authority, part of
the North West Thames Regional Health Authority. It had 899 beds.

By 1980 the Hospital had 882 beds and, by 1981, 856 beds.

In 1982, after another major reorganisation of the NHS, the Hospital
came under the administration of the Hounslow and Spelthorne District
Health Authority.

In 1984 the Hospital had 842 beds and, by 1987, 770 beds.

In 1989 a new building with geriatric wards opened. It was named
after Marjory
Warren, the first geriatrician at the
Hospital who was a pioneer in the care of the elderly with chronic
diseases.

In 1991 the Hospital was renamed the West Middlesex University
Hospital. It had 620 beds.

By the following year it had 550 beds.

In April 1993, with another reform of the NHS and the introduction of
the
'market system' in 1991, the Hospital became a third-wave trust - the
West
Middlesex Hospital NHS Trust.

By the late 1990s the old, dilapidated Victorian buildings were proving
difficult and expensive to maintain. The Trust, the local Health
Authorities and the NHS London Regional Office considered that it was
essential to redevelop the Hospital.

A 35-year PFI deal (a government initiative to develop
healthcare facilities) was approved in 2001. Bywest, a
private sector
consortium, was appointed to redevelop the site at the cost of
£135m.

The first phase of the new development opened in May 2003.

Present
status (May 2008)

About half the original Hospital site
was sold. The original Infirmary site at the north is fenced off
and awaits demolition. Two buildings on the
eastern side - the East Wing and the Marjory Warren Medical Centre -
were refurbished, as were the southern blocks, now used by the West
London Mental Health Trust.

UPDATE: October 2013

The Hospital has 434 beds in a much
more compact site. The buildings are maintained under the PFI
contract by Bouygues
Energies & Services FM. However, by 2011, like several
other hospitals in PFI deals, the Hospital was struggling to meet its
mortgage payments.

A modern extension has been added to the Queen Mary Maternity Wing near
the main entrance.
The new PFI-built Hospital.

The entrance to the new Hospital.

Car parks dominate the entrance to the new building.

The site map in 2008.

N.B.
Photographs obtained in January 2012
A small garden had been laid near the main entrance (above and below).
Labelled the
History Centre, it contains an array of seven foundation stones from
various hospitals within the South Middlesex Group.

An explainer gives the background to the artefacts.

The commemorative stone for the opening of the Brentford District
Schools was
laid on 11th April 1883. Known as Percy
House, the building was a residential school for children
from the old Brentford Union workhouse on the site.

One of the finials from Percy House, which was demolished in 1978.
The illegible foundation stone for the Infirmary, which was laid by Alderman
Benjamin Hardy, Chairman of the Board of Guardians, on 21st November
1894.The foundation stone for the new
Brentford
Union workhouse laid on 1st March 1900 by Alderman Benjamin Hardy,
Chairman of the Board of Guardians.

The commemorative stone to the extension of the South Middlesex
Hospital, laid by the Mayor of Richmond on 8th October 1927.
The foundation stone for the Hounslow Hospital,
laid by the Countess
of Jersey on 1st June 1912.
Plans for the new Urgent Care Centre to be built in 2012.

The Urgent Care Centre is being built to the north of the main entrance.

N.B. Photographs obtained in February 2012

The modern Hospital is surrounded by the usual sea of parked cars
(above and
below).

A tree was planted in 2008 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the
NHS.

Warkworth House
When the workhouse appropriated the name Warkworth House, the original
property on the site was renamed Little
Warkworth House. It later became the School of Nursing for
the Hospital. The building has been demolished.

The former entrance to the real Warkworth House on Mill
Plat has been bricked up. However,
signage above the pedestrian entrance bears the legend 'Warkworth
House'.

A commemorative plaque on the wall below
the name plate illustrates the mansion (above and below).

Perhaps some of the outbuildings of Warkworth House along
Mill Plat remain (above and below).

The site of Warkworth House is now a
gated housing development - Nos. 1 - 11 Mill Plat (above and below).